Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a powder storage container and an image forming apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
As a powder storage container to accommodate powder, for example, for an image forming apparatus such as a photocopier and a printer, a toner cartridge is used that accommodate toner (as powder) for image forming.
A toner cartridge is generally configured to be replaceable with a new one when toner stored therein is consumed. Some toner cartridges include a conveyer, such as a screw, that conveys the stored toner toward a discharge port.
The use of the toner cartridge of this kind may endanger a user at a risk of inadvertently touching a driver such as a gear to drive the conveyer during replacement. If the conveyer is driven to convey toner while the discharge port is closed, the toner may be compressed into a block or the conveyer may be deformed under load.
In attempting to solve such a problem, a toner cartridge including a return port has been proposed, through which the toner in a conveyance space is returned to the storage container. In this toner cartridge, even when the user inadvertently drives the conveyer, the conveyed toner can be returned through the return port, thereby suppressing compression of toner and reducing load to the conveyer.